Communicate your Benefits in “Plain Speak”
Successful communication is not about doing more. It’s about maximizing what you are already doing.
Here’s an example:
Take a look at your website and your brochure.
Ask yourself “Will readers immediately understand what I do?” and “Does my website clearly state the benefits I deliver?”
If the answers to these questions are unclear, it might be time to rethink what you are telling people.
The three C’s
There are three C’s in communication that can strengthen what you say about your business and your services:
- Be clear: Say exactly what you mean. Write like you speak. Avoid jargon.
- Be concise: President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to start his Cabinet meetings with “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Good advice for wordy politicians and also good advice for business communicators.
- Be consistent: You may become bored saying the same thing over and over again, but your audience needs to hear the same message as many as seven times before it registers.
Get to the point
Today’s fast-paced, Internet-based communications allow you only a few seconds to get your point across.
The average person hears between 20,000 and 30,000 words during the course of a 24-hour period. Most people only remember about 17 to 25 percent of the things to which they listen.[1] [2]
According to research conducted by productivity software developer
Boomerang, emails between 50 and 125 words had the best response rates at just above 50 percent. Short and direct emails resonated best with prospects and earned a response. The same study also showed emails written at a third-grade reading level had the highest response rate.
Do those findings strike a familiar chord? Simple. Short. Consistent.
We practice what we preach
At Wellons Communications, we follow the same principles we preach.
We keep our communications simple. We keep messages short enough to easily remember. And we place a premium on maintaining a consistent message.
If your communications are becoming too wordy, too complex, or inconsistent, it may be time to step back and get some help in shaping exactly what you want to say about yourself.
Impartial third-party communications assistance is an important component of our services. In the spirit of what marketing is all about, we help you sell things.
When you are ready to start selling more things, give me a call at 407-339-0879 or email me at will@wellonscommunications.com. We are ready to get to work on helping you be yourself…only better.